Relationship Between Psychological Disorders and Persistence of Human Papillomavirus Infection: A Scoping Review

Background and Objective Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections and the main cause of cervical cancer, which increases and persists under various factors. This review study aims to investigate the relationship between psychological disorders and the persistence of HPV infection.
Materials & Methods This scoping review study was conducted in 2023 by searching for the related articles in SID, PubMed, MagIran, IranDoc, Science Direct, Scopus and Google scholar databases. Finally, 8 eligible articles were selected. Their quality was examined by the Appraisal tool for cross-sectional studies (AXIS) and the critical appraisal skills program (CASP) checklists.
Results Seven studies showed that stress caused by psychological, social and physical issues can cause the persistence or risk of HPV infection, change in cervical cells, and increase in the risk of cervical cancer. One study showed that depression and associated disorders such as sleep disorder can be related to the persistence or risk of HPV infection, change in cervical cells, and the risk of cervical cancer.
Conclusion The persistence of HPV infection can be related to psychological disorders. The findings of this study can be used to design clinical trials to examine this relationship.